Piston-ring remover.



W. C. MAUKINNUN.

PISTON RING REMOVER.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 7, meV

1,071,934. Patented Sept. 2, 1913.

WRTNESSES' INVENTOR AW M M I BY WILLIAM C. MAGKINNON, or NEWARK, new JERSEY.

r'xsToN- nING nnmovnn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented S ept. 2,1913.

Application filed January 7, 1913. Serial No. 740,576.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, F nn-AM O. MAcKm- NON,- a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State at New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Piston- RingRemovers; an I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and nse the same, reference being had to the accompanying draw ings, and to figures of reffrence marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improved piston ring holder which can be used for removing or installing piston rings in pistons, and is designed to facilitate said operation which is now slow and unsatisfactory on account of the ditliculty to properly grasp and hold the ring in expanded position so that it will ride from its groove in the piston and. can be withdrawn along the outside of the piston.

The invention provides for a holder for piston rings which spreads the .ring by grasping it on its ends, the holder comprising handles'which are recessed so as to receive the ends of the ring and which permit a the ring being spread by reason of force being exerted at its ends at the split portion, but in a direction circumferential to the ring, that is, in a direction approximately longi tudinal along the ring so that there is no tendency to bend the ends of the ring back without affecting the heavier part of the ring.

The invention is illustrated in the accompal'iying drawing in which- Figure l is a view'of a piston ring with the holder in place, the holder in this instance consisting of separated members. Fig. 2 is an enlarged top view of the two members of the holder showing the ends of the piston ring when grasped. Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail of one of the members. Fig. 4 is a view of a different form of holder in which the members or handles are connected by aspring which has a normal tendency to force them apart. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the direction of the lines of force directed against the ends of the split piston ring.

The holder consists of members which have suitable handles 10, preferably long enough to be well grasped one in each hand, the handles having blocks 11v on their ends, which blocks are recessed so as to receive the ends of the split portion of the piston ring. The recess in each handle or holder is usually formed by forming a recess 12 in the block 11, the side walls 13 of the recess acting to limit the side movement of the pis ton ring 14;, the recess on one end being open so as to permit the handle being placed over the piston ring, the other end of the recess being closed by a projection, preferably in the shape of a pin 15. An overlapping portion 16, such as a head, prevents the re-.

cessed handle from slipping off the end of the ring. It will thus be seen that when a pair of these handles is placed in the split end of a piston ring as shown in Fig. 1, the ends 17 of the ring, which are usually beveled, are engaged by the pins 15, and when the handles are swung apart circum'fereir tially, that is, in the direction of arrows a in Fig. 5, the piston ringis spread to a diameter large enough. to permit its being withdrawn along the piston, and the same holders can be used for handling the piston ring and placing it in position in its groove in the piston. lt will be noted that the direction in which these handles are used, that is, in the direction of arrows a in Fig. 5, forces the whole ring circum'ferentially so as to spread it and does not put a strain on the ends of the ring in the direction of the arrows Z), which strain would tend to simply pull the ends of the ring outward and would not afi'ect the whole ring to spread it.

In Fig. lis shown a remover which illustrates a manner of connecting the handles by means of a band 18 which encircles the piston ring and is preferably made of spring material and thus forms a means for normally forcing the handles and their blocks apart. The holding means in the blocks in this construction is similar to that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, but the manner of operation is slightly dill'erent inasmuch as the two handles are squeezed together with their adjacent edges meeting or nearly meeting, and this permits the pins 15 to he slid in the open portion of the ring. Then by releasing the handles, the band 18, by its spring action which is in excess of the spring action of the piston ring, spreads the piston ring apart so that there isno labor employed in spreading the piston ring, as that is done by the s ring band 18. The band 18 can be ma e of spring stock, or it can-be castand given a spring by the necessary peening.

In cases where the spring of the band 18 is excessive and its force might be toov great for the piston ring, I provide means for limiting the movement of the handles away from each other, usually by a stapleor loop 19.

It will be understood that details of construction can be changed. without departing from the scope of my cla-i1ns. It will be understood that all piston rings are not cut with the diagonal split portion as shown in the drawing, but it will be obvious, however, that with the different manners in which. rings are cut,the ins can be disposed so'as to enter between t e open ends of the ring no matter what the shape of the out is.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is :i

1. A piston ring remover comprising a pair of handles, the handles having recesses in one end so as to embrace the two ends of a piston ring, and projections in the recesses, the projection on each handle being adjacent to the edge opposite the other handle, Whereby the projections and the sides of the re cesses are adapted to engage the ends of a piston ring.

2. A piston ring remover consisting of a pair of handles having recesses on their ends to receive the ends of a piston ring, pins in the recesses and adjacent to the meeting edges of the handles, the pins being adapted to engage the ends of the piston ring, and a spring connecting the handles and adapted to force them apart.

- ostess 3. A piston ring remover consisting of a pair of handles having on their ends recesses to receive the ends of a piston ring, p ns in the recesses and adjacent to the meeting edges of the handles, the pins being adapted to engage the ends of the piston ring, a'

spring connecting the handles and adapted to force them apart, and means for limiting the movement of the handles away from each other.

4.. A piston ring remover consisting of a split spring,the spring being adapted. to

encircle a piston ring, the ends of the spring the ends oi the ring, pins in the blocks ad-.

jacent to their meeting edges, the pins being situated in the recesses, handles for drawing the ends of the spring together, and means for limiting the movement of the handles from each other. a

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing,

I have -hereunto set my hand this 3rd day of January, 1913.

' WILLIAM C. MAQKINNON. Witnesses:

W111. H. QAMFIELD,

M. A. JOHNSON. 

